Midsommar, and Six Other Female Fury Films

Maybe it’s an exaggeration to say you like Midsommar.

But if you found it thought-provoking, you’re in good company.

Midsommar sparked a conversation. Its horrific imagery, cutting screenplay, and authentic performances won a bouquet of awards and accolades.

The narrative also launched a controversy when Midsommar landed in theaters in 2019. Is Dani heroic, or is she deluded? Is it about the girl power, or the dangerous mindset of cults? Critics were abuzz with answers.

The truth is deceptively simple. Writer Ari Aster took the experience of his mundane breakup and blew it up into a critically acclaimed horror movie. Aster made the personal universal by swaddling it in a scene many American women find familiar: a compromising girlfriend bending over backward for a man who wouldn't care if she wound up dead.

What some critics are missing in this conversation is that female characters are not a blueprint for their gender. Men onscreen are heroes, villains, and nobodies in turn. But they're characters, vessels for messages. And their controversial actions aren't always endorsements — they can just as easily be warnings, or mean nothing significant at all.

Hollywood isn't the only base of operations that works under this framework. When I'm recommending films, I look across seas and borders for more great movies, and I see many international studios operating in similar ways. Worldwide, female fury is amplified onscreen for thematic effect.

The aggressive and violent women in film aren't often representative of their audience (when have characters in horror flicks and thrillers ever been typical?), but they do address relevant themes for their viewers.

You thought what Dani did was controversial and fucked-up-in-an-empathetic-way? Wait till you see what these women can do.

NH10

NH10 is one feminist film that doesn't just tackle the violence of patriarchal society — it eviscerates it.

The film follows two working professionals, Meera and Arjun, in the urban pulse of Gurgaon, India. The couple is left reeling when Meera is attacked on her way home from a party. She manages to escape with a few scrapes, a damaged car, and post-traumatic stress.

Hoping for a quiet vacation away from the city, Meera and Arjun take a road trip down National Highway 10. But the two are thrown into another violent conflict when they rest at a dhaba for lunch. Confronting the arbiters of an honor killing initiates a cataclysmic sequence of events.

NH10 holds a mic up to the sexism that critics say can linger in rural India while also depicting how it seeps into urban centers as a quiet whisper. Meera confronts this maddening violence with a vicious scream, then tired silence.

Anushka Sharma, star of NH10, believed in this film enough to be its producer. Yet, critics have responded to it in a way that's similar to Midsommar's reception, vacillating between praise for its girl power and criticism for its violent denouement.

Take a look and see what you think.

Confessions (2010)

Yuko Moriguchi is quitting her job as a teacher. Not because her unruly class of middle schoolers chats through her lessons — because she suspects two of them killed her daughter.

Ms. Moriguchi knows that her students aren't legally liable as minors. So she'll punish them her own way to teach the ironic lesson that life is precious.

Confessions is a fragmented storyline that hops through several perspectives to keep you up to speed, delivering foreshadowing and flashbacks in cross-cutting shots.

You'll find the music and imagery at odds with Confessions' dark narrative in a paradoxical way similar to Midsommar. The lo-fi beats and beaming children can at times fool you into wondering whether there's anything sinister afoot at all.

And while Midsommar explores Dani's blind dedication as a partner, Confessions balances a narrative about the poison and passion of motherhood.

Sylvia (2018)

When Sylvia's lifelong friend and lover, Richard, leaves for her another woman, she embarks on a quest to ruin his life.

Here's the twist: Sylvia isn't from the physical plane. She's a spirit wife, a phenomenon that Nollywood has explored in depth in cinema for decades. If you fall in love with a spirit wife, all hell can break loose.

We only see rare glimpses of Sylvia's world, but you'll be struck by how aimless she is without Richard. She sits waiting for him to return to the dream world. She cradles him and consoles him. She talks through his aspirations while speaking nothing of herself.

Essentially, Sylvia exists for Richard. Real or no, evil or righteous, Sylvia is exerting a lot of emotional labor for one man.

So when she snaps after Richard leaves her, she has nothing left to lose. Sylvia sets her sights on taking everything from him until he is the loser.

Did writer Vanessa Kanu intend for Sylvia to be a warning about the dangers of shaping your entire life around one man? Maybe, or maybe not. But as with Midsommar, it's the interpretation of the viewer that vilifies or justifies Sylvia.

Prevenge

You've heard of postpartum psychosis, but what about prenatal psychosis?

Director Alice Lowe casts herself to play widowed mother-to-be, Ruth, as she exacts revenge on those involved in her late partner's climbing accident.

But Ruth's not in full control. Her unborn baby persuades her to slit some throats if she knows what's good for them. And as Ruth's doctor puts it, "Baby knows best."

Too bad most everyone else Ruth encounters also thinks they know what's best for her. Ruth is threatened with losing her baby if she doesn't shape up her life and improve her mental health.

Ruth can't be a good mother in the midst of a homicidal psychotic break, but would it kill other people to lend her some resources before she gets to that point?

Dani and Ruth have one damning thing in common: they're lonely to the bone, lacking support systems that should exist to ferry them out of grief. This loneliness is what splinters their sanity.

La Llarona (2019)

Vengeance is a common thread among female fury films, with varying degrees of severity. La Llarona asks, What does a genocidal murderer deserve as punishment?

Despite mounting evidence, the women in General Enrique's life hesitate to act against him. That's why La Llarona strikes a chord about the consequences of corrupt men, the governments that endorse them, and the women who protect them.

General Enrique shelters with his wife, daughter, granddaughter, and housemaid while he is protested for his suspected role in the Guatemalan genocide. His family's devotion to him crumbles when one victim, Alma, returns from the dead to illuminate the truth.

The most terrifying horror is grounded in reality. And Bustamente inspires horror not with graphic violence, but the troubling reminder that history has buried thousands of bodies in unmarked mass graves.

La Llarona flips the narrative of genocide onto its perpetrators to make some of its least sympathetic characters see the errors in their ways. And as the cherry on top, the film transforms the Central American folktale of la llarona from a story of a hysterical woman to a righteous one.

Lady Vengeance

Lee Geum-ja takes the fall for another man's crime and lands in prison for thirteen years. As she seeks atonement for her accidental role in the kidnapping, Geum-ja learns that this school teacher has more than one victim. It's time to get even — not just for herself, but for the parents of these lost children.

Prepare to pay attention, because Park Chan-wook keeps up the pace in his films. He's mastered one mind-bending technique: recontextualization. If you think you have Geum-ja figured out, wait a minute and that will change.

Lady Vengeance relishes in the irony of an avenging angel, blood dripping on crisp snow. It's a contrast to Midsommar's glaring sun and blooming wildflowers, though it also travels a path toward vengeance. What both movies share is a stylistic treat for the audience.

Ready to Watch?

If you're anything like me, you're still chasing a tidy answer to Midsommar's conclusion. Can you endorse its message? You may find yourself caught in a similar loop of questioning media's influence on reality, questioning screenwriters' intent in creation, and questioning reality's portrayal in media.

You won't find a tidy answer, but keep looking. In searching, you'll learn to ask even more questions.

Get comfortable with the uncomfortable and add this roster of angry women to your movie night.